Meetings Watch: ENM Water Utility Authority — July 19

July 18, 2013

The Eastern New Mexico Water Utility Authority met Thursday morning at Clovis City Hall.

During the meeting:

The authority, with new member appointments, held votes for leadership within the authority. By unanimous vote, Chair Gayla Brumfield, Vice Chair Sharon King and Secretary Caleb Chandler were re-elected to the positions they served in the previous year.

Members appointed to two-year terms included Brumfield, Clovis City Commissioner Juan Garza and Portales City Councilor Matt Hunton. Wesley Shafer of Grady was appointed for a one-year term.

Discussion took place on the first and second phases for the Eastern New Mexico Rural Water System, a pipeline project to move water from the Ute Reservoir in Quay County to authority members in Roosevelt and Curry counties.

The first phase is building an intake structure, or pumping station at the lake.

“We have gone through most of the controlled blasting,” Brumfield said. “The last of that will be in September. We have a little over a year on that first phase of the intake.”

Authority members talked about a trip to Washington, D.C. at the end of August to discuss the second phase, an interim pipeline to provide water to authority members while the connection from the reservoir is being built.

Brumfield said the plan is to buy water rights from area landowners to be pumped to the communities through the interim pipeline for municipal use.

The trip to speak to the state’s congressional delegation would cover that and a request for appropriation for the phase. Brumfield said the phase has drawn praise from the delegation because it gives more immediate usage to project infrastructure.

The cost is an estimated $80-85 million, included in the overall project budget.

The meeting would also cover discussion over Senate Bill 615, which would help create an account to fund the ENMRWS and other rural water projects across the nation.

A 30-minute executive session was held to open the meeting to discuss litigation from the Village of Logan. No action was taken following the executive session.